Midoriya Izuku has a rather odd Quirk. One that was so powerful it should have been obvious, but it wasn't. When he finally discovers what his Quirk can do he's ostracized even more by his peers; for fear that they'll lose their 'individuality'. But with some kind words and the belief of others, Izuku is going to become a Hero! Not just any Hero either! The Greatest Hero: Synthesis!
— FanFiction.Net summary.
Collector Hero: Synthesis is a My Hero Academia fanfiction by Kairomaru where-in Izuku has a Quirk of his own. Specifically, his Quirk lets him duplicate the Quirks of others if he gets a blood sample from them. While Izuku still faces bullying from peers, he has much greater self-esteem as others seek to help him become a hero.
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This fic contains examples of the following tropes, in addition to those already present in the source material:
- The Ace: During the Entrance Exam, Izuku earns more than double the next entrants' score, earning 100 villain points and 75 rescue points, which also breaks the all-time record.
- Accidental Pervert: During the Final Exams, Snipe accidentally shoots Hagakure in the butt.
- Adaptation Name Change: Some of the 1A students pick different Hero Names:
- Aoyama picks Chevalier.
- Mina picks Acid Pink.
- Izuku picks Synthesis.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Camie is a member of 1-A and appears in the second chapter rather than in the Provisional License Exam.
- Adaptational Modesty: Izuku redesigns Momo's hero costume to be somewhat more modest while still allowing the exposure she needs for her quirk. The basis of the redesign comes from Onughost◊.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Izuku's Quirk is Collector rather than One For All.
- Adapted Out:
- Ojiro is replaced by Camie in Class 1A. As of Chapter 23, no mention has been made of him.
- One for All's characteristic of causing Quirked users to have reduced lifespans is excised, as is it stockpiling the Quirks of previous users.
- Age Lift: Camie is one year younger than canon, being Izuku's age.
- All Your Powers Combined: Izuku can use as many of his stockpiled Quirks at once as his stamina allows. His Amplification Quirk in particular makes his other Emitter Quirks more powerful and thus sees a lot of use.
- Armor-Piercing Question: During the Final Exam, Izuku gets fed up with Bakugo's obsession with winning, even when facing completely hopeless odds, and finally gets through to him with a single line.Izuku: How many people will you let die in the line of duty just to satisfy your lust for victory?
- Ascended Extra:
- Izuku's father Hisashi plays a larger role than in canon, where he's only been mentioned.
- Camie Utsushimi is a student of UA, being in Izuku's class and one of his four girlfriends.
- Togeike Chikuchi is transferred to Class 1-A after the Sports Festival.
- Awesome, but Impractical:
- Several people who let Izuku copy their Quirks do so because they think their Quirks are too impractical on their own for them to become heroes.
- Izuku's fire Combination Attack is much larger than merely using his father's fire breath, but it's not much hotter, making it a large scale but relatively weak attack.
- He later develops an even stronger fire-based Combination Attack that uses fifteen Quirks together and manages to stun All Might and demolish several buildings but leaves him completely exhausted afterward and takes much too long to use in actual combat. The narration lampshades that he only managed to pull it off due to accidentally pressing All Might's Trauma Button again.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: A secondary effect of Izuku's Quirk makes him amazing at analyzing the Quirks of others, including knowing how they work and whether they've reached their full potential. By their second day of school, Izuku knew more about Momo's Quirk than she did. Similarly, in Chapter 3 Izuku revealed to Tsuyu that her mutant powers still had a fair bit of growing room and that she wasn't anywhere near her limit. He also noted that his parents had maxed out their quirks and they would not get any stronger through training. In later chapters, Izuku takes the time to analyze all of his classmates' quirks to give them ideas on how to train them.
- Battle Harem: Izuku gets four girlfriends, who like him, are heroes-in-training.
- Blood Magic: Izuku's Quirk requires absorbing some blood from others to use their Quirks. He has several microtubules in his fingers which allow him to do so easily and painlessly.
- Boring, but Practical:
- Amplification makes other Quirks stronger. Rather boring for an ordinary person, but for Izuku, it's his most used Quirk by far as he can use it to amplify his other Quirks. Similarly, Lactic Acid Elimination allows him to bleed off lactic acid faster than it can build up, allowing Izuku to physically exert himself for longer.
- According to Endeavor, paperwork is the least glamorous part of hero work but also one of the most critical. Besides needing to know the law so they can enforce it, paperwork includes wages, requisition forms, incident reports, team-up requests, and more. The man makes a point of having his two interns, Izuku and Shoto, learn how to properly fill out paperwork before they go on any patrols.
- Chekhov's Skill: During the Quirk testing session, Izuku demonstrates his Total Sensory Deprivation Quirk to the teachers. He uses it again on the Nomu to render it inoffensive and unresponsive.
- Chick Magnet: Izuku is quite popular with the ladies of 1-A, with at least four confirmed to have a thing for him.
- Combat Medic: Izuku is learning to become this under Recovery Girl's tutelage.
- Combination Attack:
- Much like All For One, Izuku has a habit of combining his various Quirks for greater effects. One of his most basic combinations is Force Projection, Air Compression, and Amplification to fire bullets of air at targets.
- Satou, after taking advice from Izuku, learns that different types of sugar can give him different reactions - and, during the USJ Attack, he combines three types of sugar to boost his strength, durability, and speed to the point he's almost like All Might.
- Combo Platter Powers: Izuku naturally. By the time of the Entrance Exam, he's stockpiled dozens of Quirks. Some of his current Quirks include:
- Force Projection
- Half Giant
- Healing Aura
- Quirk Nullification
- Air Compression
- Fire Breath
- Heat Generation
- Amplification
- Reverse Force
- Sharpen
- Empathic Force
- Voice Casting
- Paralyzing Gaze
- Barrier
- Solidity
- Warp
- Return
- Tactile Hydrokinesis
- Search
- Muscle Augmentation
- Compress
- Six Arms
- Double
- Cremation
- Hand Tool
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- In the Heroes vs Villains exercise, Izuku's fight against Bakugou barely lasts half a minute, with Izuku quickly nullifying Bakugou's Quirk and then binding his hands in capture tape.
- The second heroics class sees various students fighting in three-on-one matches. Momo utterly dominates her match against Mineta, Sero, and Aoyama.
- During the Capture the Flag event at the Sports Festival, Izuku's team not only manages to keep their flag the entire time in spite of pretty much every other team assaulting them at the same time, but they also get a few extra ones thanks to Ochako's prowling.
- Surprisingly, Todoroki's match against Yui in the Sports Festival is one in Yui's favor. Rather than fight him directly, she uses her Quirk to shrink the ring until it's barely large enough for her to stand on, sending him out of the ring.
- Izuku and Shoto manage to defeat Stain in seconds: after Shoto sends an ice wall to distract Stain, Izuku creates a barrier in the form of a cube, trapping the Hero Killer without leaving him a chance to escape.
- Izuku easily destroys Muscular during the attack on the Summer Training Camp, leaving the deranged villain completely crippled in every part of his body.
- Izuku successfully defeats Moonfish in seconds by using a boosted Voice Casting and putting the deranged cannibal to sleep.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Izuku wins his match against Camie, Sato, and Iida but Camie breaks his elbow and Izuku had to fight hard to defeat them.
- Date Peepers: Momo's mother spies on Momo's date with Izuku, lamenting that she can't take photos for later teasing.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Camie and Toru try to fake Todoroki and Shoji out during the Heroes vs. Villains exercise by hiding the bomb under an illusion. But since they hid it in the same room as them, the bomb is quickly found by Shoji who simply creates dozens of arms to fill the room until one brushes against it.
- Mineta tries to deflect a net Momo throws at him by using his balls, which lack the necessary momentum to block the net. As a result, the net hits him, and is then firmly stuck to the ground, removing him from the fight.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Izuku has a very hard time staying on task when confronted with his female classmates' costumes, particularly Ochako, Camie and Tsuyu.
- Door Stopper: As of Feburary 2024, the story has 41 chapters, and is over 200,000 words.
- Dungeon Bypass: Shortly before the Sports Festival, Izuku trains to handle Warp, which leaves him with the perfect method to bypass the entire obstacle course if he chooses to. And indeed, he pretty much runs straight ahead and teleports past each obstacle.
- Equivalent Exchange:
- According to Izuku, Momo's Quirk only uses her lipids to create the framework of her creations. The rainbow light her body gives off is actually her Quirk changing nearby matter into the rest of the object she's forming.
- One of Izuku's Quirks, Return, allows him to repair or restore any object less than 30cm long and weighing less than 500g. The catch is that the extra material comes from his own body. He uses this ability to fix Tensei's damaged spine.
- Even Evil Has Standards: One female villain at the USJ is disgusted by rape and blocks her male accomplices from committing sexual assault against Momo and Jirou.
- Explosive Overclocking: Sato combines granulated, sanding, and turbinado sugar to push his strength, durability, and speed to impressive heights - but it has a brutal kickback that leaves him puking and trembling from the sudden sugar rush.
- Eye Scream: Muscular is left permanently blind after his Curb-Stomp Battle from Izuku, and it's heavily implied he is left in a permanent coma.
- Foreshadowing: While analyzing Kurogiri's Quirk, Izuku notices that it's like someone forced three different Quirks together to act as one, clearly hinting at his artificial nature.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: In canon, Class 1-A treated Bakugou neutrally at worse and treated him as a classmate despite his negative traits. Here, he gets no such allowance and they treat him with contempt for his canon negative traits.
- Godzilla Threshold:
- Izuku is forced to use Voice Casting twice in a few seconds in spite of the brutal kickback it causes, and later destroys the Nomu's senses to keep it from attacking.
- During the Nomu attack at Hosu, the heroes are forced to go for the kill, as the creatures can't be stopped otherwise.
- Good Samaritan: Most of the Quirks Izuku's stockpiled come from people responding to his ad in online forums, each simply wanting to help someone become a hero.
- Good Thing You Can Heal: Izuku's Healing Aura becomes quite useful since he gets injured several times, like when Camie broke his arm during their three-on-one match.
- Heroic RRoD:
- The Combination Attack necessary for Izuku to cut the Zero Pointer in half leaves him badly injured and causes him to pass out after barely healing himself.
- Satou's own Combination Attack, made by using three types of sugar at once, leaves him shaking and puking after its effect ends.
- After having to use his Quirk well beyond his ability to resist the kickback, Aoyama suffers from multiple broken ribs and contusions all over his torso.
- Voice Casting shreds Izuku's vocal cords due to the stress he puts them through.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Bakugou came to U.A, believing himself to be the undisputed best, and that he would quickly be at the top of his class, only to be shown up and outshined at every turn. The battle trial ends in a complete Curb-Stomp Battle, with Izuku neutralizing him in seconds. He’s knocked out in the first round of the tournament portion of the Sports Festival by Kirishima, again rather easily. And to top it all off, thanks to his complete self-absorption and inability to see beyond the needs of feeding his own ego, he winds up being the only member of 1-A to fail the semester finals.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Izuku is still treated as an outcast by his peers at Aldera in spite of having a Quirk because its nature makes them fear they would be less unique.
- Izuku and Shoto still end up facing Stain in Hosu. Rather than rescuing Tenya, they happen to spot him in passing while responding to a Nomu attack.
- Izuku does not encounter Tomura at the mall. In spite of this, Tomura still comes to the conclusion that everything ties back to All Might.
- Instant-Win Condition: Yui wins her match by exploiting the ring-out rule. Specifically, she shrinks the entire ring until it's barely big enough for her to stand on, forcing Shoto out of bounds.
- Logical Weakness:
- Izuku can use Emitter Quirks at full strength but can't use Mutant Quirks at all and can only use Transformation Quirks at half strength. His doctor theorizes this is to keep Izuku from changing his body so much that his own Quirk no longer functions. This also applies even if the mutation is a secondary aspect of the Quirk: for example, copying Ochako's Zero Gravity would not be useful since he wouldn't get the fingerpads she uses to activate her Quirk.
- He also has the same limitations the original user has. For example, copying Creation would force him to train picturing objects so he can make them.
- Using several Quirks to boost his speed, strength, and reflexes allows Izuku to punch through villain bots during the Entrance Exam. But his lack of a durability Quirk means doing so injures himself.
- LOL, 69: Camie, Toru, and Shoji are amused upon learning Camie got 69 internship offers after the Sports Festival.
- Loophole Abuse: Chikuchi's Quirk requires a source of water nearby as she can't simply pull moisture out of the air. Before her match in the Sports Festival, she takes the time to completely soak her clothes in water so she'll have something to work with.
- In the Sports Festival, one of the ways to win was via Ring Out. Yui shrunk the ring so that only she was standing in it, beating Shouto before he could blink.
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: When All for One hears about Izuku, he has Doctor Garaki search his genealogy to determine if he is his descendant. Even though he tried to avert it, there's the possibility that he may have left a woman pregnant. Averted when he finds out that Izuku descends from his mother Megumi Shigaraki.
- Making a Splash: Chikuchi Togeike can manipulate water, though she can't create it nor can she currently pull moisture out of the air. During her match against Mina, she shows off a preference for launching spikes and needles made of water.
- Marshmallow Hell: The first thing Camie does when Izuku comes back to school after the USJ incident is hug him into her breasts.
- Mighty Glacier: After following Izuku's advice on trying different kinds of sugars, Sato finds that sanding sugar increases both his strength and durability at the same time while leaving his speed unchanged.
- Mind over Matter: Izuku's first stockpiled Quirk is called Force Projection which lets him push objects away from him with his mind.
- Must Make Amends: Once Shoto actually starts using his flames, Endeavor thinks to himself that he owes it to his whole family to "make Shoto a better man than [Endeavor] is".
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Sato brutally beats up the Alter Cloth villain that attacks him.
- Oh, Crap!: Muscular becomes alarmed when Izuku copies his Quirk, then proceeds to use it to beat his ass fifty shades of black and blue.
- Point of Divergence:
- Izuku having a Quirk does wonders for both his confidence and his Quirk-analyzing skills.
- During the Entrance Exam, Izuku gets Ochako from under the rock before wiping out the Zero Pointer.
- Mashirao Ojiro is replaced by Camie Utsushumi in Class 1-A.
- Because Collector allows Izuku to quickly analyze Quirks, he realizes that the Nomu has multiple Quirks and warns Aizawa.
- During the USJ Attack, Izuku manages to nullify Kurogiri's Quirk for long enough to allow Thirteen to destroy the entrance door, allowing Iida to escape earlier. However, Kurogiri manages to send all the students (save for Camie, who hid herself and Thirteen under one of her illusions) across the facility.
- Izuku also manages to nullify the Nomu by permanently blocking all of its senses, which saves All Might from having to fight it and causes Shigaraki and Kurogiri to escape sooner.
- Izuku uses Healing Aura to heal Aizawa, allowing him to recover faster and without any lingering health problems.
- There is an extra General Studies student in the second event after an unknown 1-B student sprains his ankle.
- Due to the different team-ups, several students don't reach the tournament: Aoyama, Ibara, Shinso, Tetsutetsu, and Tokoyami don't pass, and are replaced by Camie, Kodai, Honenuki, Togeike Chikuchi, and Tsuyu.
- At Tenya's request, Izuku uses his Quirks to heal Tensei, preventing him from having to retire.
- Bakugou absolutely refuses to work with Izuku during the final exams, and combined with other concerning comments, results in his failure on the practical exam.
- During the training camp, Izuku is able to copy search from Ragdoll. This allows him to find Kota quickly and with Warp Gate, teleport him back to the Catnap Inn.
- The attack at the Training Camp ends up with most of the Vanguard Action Squad captured, as Izuku manages to block most of Kurogiri's portals with his own. Only Dabi and Twice manage to escape.
- Power Nullifier: One of Izuku's neighbors gives him a Quirk that lets him keep others from activating their Quirks so long as he maintains physical contact with them.
- Put on a Bus: Mineta is expelled from the Hero Course after the Sports Festival.
- Rage Breaking Point: After repeatedly trying to get through to Bakugo that the can't defeat All Might, Izuku finally snaps, gives him a What the Hell, Hero?, and uses Voice Casting to make the other teen follow him out the exit so they can pass the exam.
- Related in the Adaptation: Izuku is related to All For One and the First Wielder through their mother Megumi Shigaraki.
- Required Secondary Powers:
- Izuku's Quirk automatically tells him whether someone has a Transformation, Emitter, or Mutation Quirk so he knows whether he actually can copy them or not.
- Averted for Shoji who can only make exact duplicates of his sensory organs unless he knows enough biology to modify them. As a result, Izuku suggests he study up how different eyes and ears work.
- The Reveal: Chapter 32 reveals Nejire is All Might's chosen successor.
- Rule of Three: Earning three disciplinary write-ups in a single school year results in an automatic expulsion from UA. Mineta is removed from the Hero Course after his second write-up, leaving him in the General Studies Course with one last chance.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Defied. Aizawa calls Shoto out on only using half of his quirk and threatens to kick him out of the hero course if he doesn't use his fire as well.
- Shout-Out:
- After beating Todoroki by shrinking the ring, Yui declares, "I am the ring now."
- In his first match in the Sports Festival, Izuku combines several Quirks to create an attack he calls Tornado Fist.
- Momo's mother is Nico Robin.
- Spanner in the Works: Izuku having Warp keeps Kurogiri from getting most of the Vanguard Action Squad away.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Ragdoll is rescued by Izuku killing the Chainsaw Nomu, preventing her Quirk from being stolen.
- Stern Teacher: Aizawa's insistence on his students giving it their all applies to all of them. As such, he calls out Todoroki for only using his Quirk to make large blasts of ice and threatens to expel him if he doesn't use fire. On the flip side, he does try take look after his students and offers them more advice than he does in canon.
- Superhuman Transfusion: Izuku first learns about his Quirk after getting a blood transfusion from a Pro Hero whose Quirk is Force Projection.
- The Tease: Camie is noticeably flirtier than any of her other classmates.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Izuku has a subdued variation when he realizes Bakugou is in his class at UA, muttering that of course they're in the same class. He repeats the sentiment when he sees that Bakugou is his opponent in the Heroes vs Villains exercise.
- Title Drop: Izuku name drops the fic's title when he names himself the Collector Hero: Synthesis.
- Took a Level in Badass: Due to Izuku's analysis and advice, multiple characters undergo this.
- Kirishima unlocks his Unbreakable form within the first few days at UA due to Izuku suggesting he try to activate his Quirk when it's already active.
- Ochako gets her grappling tethers at Izuku's suggestion before the USJ, instead of getting inspired by Izuku's Blackwhip, as well as air jets in her boots to fly while using her power on herself.
- Kaminari gets a suit that plays to his Shock and Awe power, with the costume covered in cables he can electrify to defend himself, and melée weapons he can turn into tasers. He later figures out a way to boost his speed and reflexes by running the electricity through his body.
- Aoyama gets a pack that gets charged by his power and is connected to two gauntlets that can fire lasers, as well as an Energy Blade.
- Kyouka gets several watches with pre-loaded sounds and messages, which she can then channel into her Speaker Boots.
- Sato learns that different types of sugar give him different powers, making him more versatile.
- Trauma Button: Izuku acts as one for All Might due to his Quirk's similarities to All For One. Intellectually, All Might knows the two are nothing alike but he still has to regularly remind himself of this.
- Underestimating Badassery: Sato thought he had Izuku pinned due to using sanding sugar (which increases both his strength and durability) then catching him in a bear hug. Izuku nullifies his Quirk and blasts him away with Air Compression.
- Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: Bakugo vs Kirishima in the Sports Festival basically boils down to this. Bakugo has speed and overwhelming power but Kirishima has unparalleled defense.
- Victory by Endurance: Kirishima defeats Bakugo by enduring his explosions until the latter is too exhausted to keep him from throwing him out of the ring.
- Villainous Breakdown: Shigaraki doesn't take that the Training Camp attack ended with only Dabi and Twice escaping while the rest are captured too well.
- We Need a Distraction: During the Heroes vs Villains exercise, Izuku distracts Iida so Tsuyu can grab the bomb with her tongue from outside the window.
- Weak, but Skilled: Camie's Glamour Quirk has functionally zero offensive power but she uses it creatively and is skilled at grappling to make up for it. When she, Iida, and Sato all fight Izuku at once, she's the only one to truly injure him, breaking his elbow with an armbar and using Glamor to first go invisible and then distract him via making multiple illusions of herself. She repeats the trick during the Capture the Flag, multiplying her team's flag and going invisible when Monoma's team breaks through the wall.
- She also uses it to great effect to fool the Chainsaw Nomu into believing he killed Momo and Awase while the two put the tracker on the Chainsaw Nomu.
- What the Hell, Hero?: During the Final Exams, Izuku calls out Bakugo for focusing on victory in combat over actually achieving the objective.Izuku: What good is your pride if you fail?! Winning isn't determined by who can beat up who! A Hero wins by saving lives! We're CIVIL SERVANTS, Bakugo! Being a Hero isn’t about chasing glory or being the strongest! Do you hear yourself?!
- Why Didn't I Think of That?: Izuku tends to cause this reaction when analyzing others' quirks.
- Kyoka is rather surprised that she never considered plugging one of her jacks into her speakers and another into a different electronic device, such as her phone, to produce more sounds than just her heartbeat.
- Similarly, Sato never considered using anything but simple granulated sugar with his quirk and thus didn't know how, say, sanding sugar would interact with it.
- At Izuku's suggestion, Shoji starts creating body parts of different sizes, though he admits he'll have to study biology more to do things like altered ear canals.
- Worf Had the Flu: Izuku's massive combination move against All Might only works because he accidentally triggers the man's Trauma Button due to listing off the Quirks he uses in a similar manner to All For One.
- Wrestler in All of Us: Camie, who utilizes both a chokehold and an armbar against Izuku during their match.
